February Highlights 2025

Spring is in the air as we head into March, but February has certainly produced some patch gold! March will surely hold more spring passage, with birders now on the lookout for their first Wheatears and Sand Martins of the year, or maybe a Little Ringed Plover or Garganey on your local pool of water? There is also the chance to get out birding more frequently now over the next few months, with patchers reporting that they are doing visits before and after their day at work. We are also encouraging patch birders to record their sightings with either Birdtrack or eBird, and to send them in to their local county recorder, particularly those of breeding evidence of rarer species, now is a good time to be on the lookout for displaying Long-eared Owls or for drumming Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers! The British Trust of Ornithology are running a Heathland Birds Survey, maybe something to get involved with: https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/heathland-birds-survey

We're happy to say that the month has also brought some new sign ups, so a warm welcome to all the newcomers, we hope that you enjoy! Best of luck to everyone taking part over the year, we hope March is a fruitful month on your patch. Remember, at the end of the year we will running a 'Best Find' competition and that "more time in the field, means more birds!".

Now, what you've all been waiting for:

The Scores:

In the overall lead, we have Trevor Girling with 163 points at RSPB Titchwell Marsh 3km².

For the Green minileague, Amy Robjohns' patch of 'The Solent - Calshot to Portsmouth Harbour' totaled up a whopping 133 points by the end of February but Bob Ford is not far behind, walking from his home in Weymouth he tallied up a very impressive 121 points.

Incase you haven't seen, we've decided to bring back the under 25 minileague for 3km patches, with 6 patches so far! The top spot is tied, with Jacob Spinks at Dungeness Bird Observatory 3km and Jack Pettit at Beddington Farmlands 3km both at 83 points.

Leading scores by mini league 3km:

Coastal East England: Trevor Girling – 163 points

Coastal Scotland: Nick Littlewood – 102 points

Coastal South England: Amy Robjohns – 129 points

Coastal Wales: Alex Jones – 100 points

Coastal West England: Sean O'Hara – 88 points

Estuarine: Peter Hazelwood – 95 points

Inland Midlands: Tom Shields – 101 points

Inland North England: Ben Moyes – 121 points

Inland Scotland: Mike Hodgkin – 74 points

Inland South England: Dave Helliar – 104 points

Inland Wales: Nicholas Beswick – 56 points

Islands: John Bowler – 113 points

Top Comparative Scores:

Paul Whitehouse - 78.41%

Alan Dawson - 77.36%

Freddie Matthews - 76.34% ​​

Leading scores by mini league 10km and 3km:

Coastal East England: Trevor Girling – 163 points

Coastal Scotland: Rich Arthurs – 107 points

Coastal South England: Amy Robjohns – 129 points

Coastal Wales: Alex Jones – 100 points

Coastal West England: Sean O'Hara – 88 points

Estuarine: Peter Hazelwood – 95 points

Inland Midlands: Tom Shields – 101 points

Inland North England: Ben Moyes – 121 points

Inland Scotland: Allan Kelly – 95 points

Inland South England: Dave Helliar – 104 points

Inland Wales: Nicholas Beswick – 56 points

Islands: John Bowler – 113 points

Highlights:

Inland North, England (16 patches): 

Duncan Bye at Wheldrake Ings recorded a Common Scoter, a relatively rare sighting for inland locations. Lee Wiseman at Gouthwaite Reservoir enjoyed standout sightings of a Pintail and a Little Gull, the latter being a patch lifer. Owen Tattersall at Figham Common (3km²) was thrilled by the appearance of Snow Geese, a Hen Harrier, and a Water Rail. Paul Whitehouse at Stanley Ferry Flash and Southern Washlands (3km²) spotted a Barn Owl. Gavin Orr at Pontefract Park/Racecourse and the surrounding area recorded a Woodcock and an Lesser Black-backed Gull. At WWT Martin Mere (3km²), Ciaran Rowett found a Mediterranean Gull, Avocet, and Grey Partridge. Darren Best at Swinemoor (3km²) observed a Whooper Swan and a Merlin. Mike Leakey at Bishop Middleham (3km²) was excited to spot a Smew (patch lifer). Lastly, Nigel G. Harris at Middletons, Co. Durham (3km²) recorded a Raven and a Green Sandpiper, both new for the patch. 

Inland Midlands, England (15 patches):

Steve Lister had a memorable sighting of a Cattle Egret in Loughborough (10km), which not only marked a patch lifer but also made an appearance viewable from his garden. Tom Shields, birding Colwick Park (3km²), added a Barn Owl to his patch list, while also spotting a Brambling and Scaup within the broader Nottingham Trent Valley (10km). Over in Trent Port/Marton, Lincs (3km²), Brian Hedley recorded an impressive group of 35 Whooper Swans, along with a Marsh Harrier, Great Egret, Curlew, and 2 Redshank. Richard Harbird in Redditch had a good sighting of a Hawfinch, pictured below. 

Hawfinch, Richard Harbird

Coastal East, England (17 patches):

Trevor Girling had an exciting encounter at RSPB Titchwell Marsh (3km²), where he spotted a Glaucous Gull (his first since 2017) as well as a Little Gull. Over in Easington (3km²), Paul French celebrated a Firecrest in his garden. Meanwhile, Stuart Ainsworth at Gibraltar Point NNR (3km²) had a fantastic patch milestone, recording his first-ever patch Cranes and a Black Brant (a lifer), and Owen Beaumont at Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe Dunes NNR (3km²) found a Red-necked Grebe. 

Coastal South, England (11 patches): 

Jason Spinks at Dungeness Bird Observatory (3km²) witnessed an incredible Pintail passage, while also seeing his first redhead Smew in years within the broader Dungeness area (10km). Over at Dawlish Warren (3km²), Kevin Rylands enjoyed sightings of a Cetti’s Warbler, Firecrest, and Tawny Owl. Meanwhile, in the Teignmouth window (3km²), he added a Little Grebe to his list, making for a productive birding session in the region. Amy Robjohns has belated informed us of a Caspian Gull on her patch at Titchfield Haven, which she had in January - this being a patch first. This month however she had two very good sightings, both ducks with Ferruginous and Long-tailed. 

Pintails moving east past Dungeness, Jacob Spinks

Inland South, England (23 patches):

Gareth Casburn had a notable sighting at Ardley ERF (3km²) with a Green-winged Teal. Ian Sherriffs, birding at Buscot Wick, Oxfordshire (3km²), was thrilled to spot a Hen Harrier. Over at Godinton, Hothfield & Singleton (3km²), Neil Burt observed an immature male Peregrine Falcon chasing a Common Snipe, and also noted good numbers of Teal (14). Dave Helliar, birding 10km from home in Chard, recorded a Pintail (his first in 5 years), along with sightings of 3 Mediterranean Gulls and a Little Gull (his first in 7 years). Lastly, Freddie Matthews at Winchester (3km²) spotted a Yellow-legged Gull, a Jack Snipe, and a Great White Egret. 

Little Gull, Dave Helliar

Estuarine (5 patches):

Peter Hazelwood spotted a Barn Owl at Oldbury Power Station (3km²), adding to the area's birding highlights. Meanwhile, Jackie Binks had an exciting find at Garston Coastal Reserve/Oglet (3km²), where she recorded a Shore Lark.

Islands (11 patches):

Steve Dudley had a great patch moment on Westray (3km²), with Green-winged Teal, which had previously been spotted on the 10km patch, turning up on the core patch- result! He also added a few early inter-isles migrants to his list, including Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Woodpigeon, and a Short-eared Owl. John Bowler at Balephuil (3km²) was thrilled to spot a Jack Snipe and a Greenfinch, along with a singing Mistle Thrush, which was the real patch gold! 

Mistle Thrush, John Bowler

Inland Scotland (6 patches):

Lee Hesp had an interesting month at Strathyre (3km²), where he spotted a Treecreeper and even had the added excitement of seeing a Beaver! 

Coastal Scotland (12 patches): 

Rob Hughes had an exciting month at Nybster, Caithness (3km²), where he spotted a Hawfinch and a Magpie- a rare find! Nick Littlewood, birding at Portsoy (3km²), was thrilled to spot a White-billed Diver. Over at Gullane/Aberlady Bay (3km²), Rich Arthurs recorded a White-winged Scoter, and just 10km from home in Gullane, he spotted the same White-winged Scoter, as well as a group of Whooper Swans.

Whooper Swans, Rich Arthurs

Coastal Wales (4 patches):

Alex Jones, at Rhyl (3km²), spotted a Pale-bellied Brent Goose and a Whooper Swan. Over in Broughton, Flintshire (10km), he added a White-fronted Goose and a Barnacle Goose to his list. 

Inland Wales (2 patches):

Nicholas Beswick at Mynydd Llangatwg had a notable sighting of a Hen Harrier. 

No highlights given for the following categories so hopefully we'll hear more in March and get a few more patches included: Coastal West England (1 patch), Inland Ireland (1 patch).

Well if you have managed to get this far, thank you so much for reading, we hope you enjoyed it! All the best for the coming month.  

The Patchwork Challenge team. 

January Highlights PWC2025

The first month of #PWC2025!

January can be a rollercoaster of a month as a patch birder. The buzz of January 1st, when everything is fresh and new soon feels like a distant memory when you are struggling for a new species midway into the month. That said, it can kick up some oddities that are hard to come by for the rest of the year, especially if hard weather comes in. There has been a hint of hard weather movement this month, with a few patches picking up things like White-fronted Geese and Smew, while out of place waterbirds at others. February will hopefully do one of two brings, bring colder weather pushing birds around to find suitable feeding or even off the continent and this looks set to happen with colder easterlies from the continent coming in after the first week of the month or what could happen towards the end of the month is temperatures rising a little giving the first glimmers of spring. This may get the first Oystercatchers on the move inland, or get things like Pink-footed or Brent Geese on the move... and well by the time that is all over, it will be March and spring will be ready to unspring! 

For those seeking out those extra bonus points in the dark winter days, February is the month to be looking through flocks of gulls, trying to pick out something juicy like a white winger, an out of place Mediterranean or even Bonaparte's or Ross's Gull (the day I type this a Ross's Gull has turned up on the Hebrides), or look through flocks of ducks for things like American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal or Lesser Scaup. There is things out there to be found, February in the past has turned up wintering American passerines, with in recent history an American Robin in Eastbourne in 2022, and the famous Northern Mockingbird in Devon in 2021 that ended up touring Britain, so those with housing estates in their patches should have some hope of something gripping. Best of luck!

Mute Swan, a #patchgold for Mark Lawlor on Guernsey being only the second sighting on his patch in over 20yrs of watching!

The Scores!

The leading scores so far are fairly spread across mini-leagues with Inland North England, Coastal South England and Coastal East England taking the top three spots of the 3km league.

Ben Moyes takes an early lead at Swillington Ings with 107 points, 57% of his comparative score. Hot on his heels, we have Kevin Rylands at Dawlish Warren with 105 points but only at 44% of his comparative score of 241. Also with a comparative score of 241 we have James Brown in Lowestoft area with 99 points. 

The highest comparative score so far is at 72% from Alan Dawson in Cholsey, Oxfordshire 10km, with Dan Webb close behind at 70% from Sellack 10km. The 3km patch with the best comparative score is belongs to Freddie Matthews in Winchester with 63%. Some slow starts for some with Paul French's patch in Easington at only 11% and David Parnaby on Fair Isle at 20%. Lots of spring migrants are yet to come, so I'm sure we'll see these scores climb as birds start to get moving!

The Green league is so far championed by Allan Kelly's home patch with 95 points and David Roche hot on their heels in Papa Westray with 93 points.

And finally, James Brown takes the 10km early lead at Hopton with 126 points.

We will be posting each of the mini-league scoreboards in next months update, when hopefully more competitors have entered their scores into the spreadsheet. 

Patch Highlights:

Many of you have shared your highlights so far this year and it's brilliant to see your patches kicking off to a great start.

Inland North (11 patches): Waterfowl are some of the trending highlights of this mini league, with Lee Wiseman having a Ring-necked Duck and Brambling at Gouthwaite Reservoir 3km², whilst Ben Moyes has wracked up 95 species so far at Swillington Ings with a drake Scaup, Slavonian Grebe, Red-crested Pochard and Caspian Gull. Ciaran Rowett, at WWT Martin Mere, found a Snow Goose, as well as having Brambling, Hen Harrier and Goldeneye.

Inland Midlands (10 patches): At Colwick Park, Tom Shields benefited from the cold weather movements, having his first Smew on patch since 2021, as well as a Caspian Gull and Whooper Swans. In Dereham, Dan Leadley is two up compared to January 2024, with Snipe and Water Rail included in his totals. Siberian Chiffchaff, Bittern and a flock of 27 White-fronted Geese from Paul Sofley's patch at Ladywalk NR. A self found Ring-necked Duck brings Dan Webb's 10km patch in Sellack to 89 points.

Coastal East England (16 patches): James Brown had a Black Redstart in both of his patches, as well as a Spotted Redshank in Hopton 10km. Paul Newton, Hawsker Bottoms to Robin Hoods Bay 3km², also had Black Redstart, and in Whitby 10km from home, 2 Water Rails and White-fronted Goose. In Easington, Great White Egret and Lapland Bunting were seen by Paul French on his 10km.

Meanwhile, Duncan Watson informs us that the Ross's Gull in Tynemouth was well worth a £25 emergency taxi from the office, that's certainly one good excuse to get out of work! This gull was also relocated on John Chapman's patch, NE South Tyneside.

The Ross's Gull the River Tyne, John Malloy

Coastal South (10 patches): Kevin Rylands at Dawlish Warren had a Green-winged Teal, Red-necked Grebe and Water Pipit, bringing the species total up to 87. Johnathon Burton, Chyngton Farm to Cuckmere Haven: Barnacle and White-fronted Geese, Caspian Gull and Water Rail

Inland South (20 patches): In Chard 10km, Dave Helliar added Jack Snipe, Brambling and Hawfinch to his patch year list. Jack Snipe was also a higlight for Geoff Wyatt in Day's Lock Oxon. Freddie Matthews in Winchester had Golden Plover and Great White Egret. Conor MacKenzie Sutton Courtenay has already reached 59% of his comparative score and had a Siberian Chiffchaff on their patch.

Estuarine (4 patches): Little Owl and a pair of Common Scoter were the best birds of Peter Hazelwood's patch at Oldbury Power Station. Gordon Hodgson ,at Frampton, Splatt and Saul Warth had a lovely Yellow-browed Warbler.

Islands (10 patches): Steve Dudley had an island tick in Westray with a cracking male Smew being his highlight, as well as Green-winged Teal in his 10km. White-fronted Goose and unseasonal Red-throated Divers were seen by David Parnaby out on Fair Isle. David Roche, Papa Westray had both Little and Mediterranean Gull on his patch.

Three 'Russian White-fronted Geese' (left hand birds) in flight with Greylags (and a sheep in the background) at the Meadow Burn, Fair Isle on 27th January 2025, David Parnaby.

Inland Scotland (6 patches): Mike Hodgkin  had his best non-Scilly view of Jack Snipe & Little Egret in Penicuik 10km, whilst Lee Hesp had an absolute mega on his patch in Strathyre, a Greenfinch!

Coastal Scotland (12 patches): In North Berwick, Little Auk was seen by Andre Whewell's on their patch.

No highlights given for the following categories so hopefully we'll hear more in February:

Coastal Wales (4 patches), Coastal West England (1 patch), Inland Ireland (1 patch)

And we are still awaiting sign ups from patch birders in Coastal Ireland and Inland Wales so if you know anyone with a patch who would be keen to join, let them know!

We are now at 105 patches, 44 of which are Green and 77 with previous scores to be entered into the comparative league. Don't forget to encourage your friends to take part to increase the challenge! Thank you to everyone who has updated their scores this month and included their patch highlights. We look forward to seeing how you all get on in through February.

2024 Patchwork Challenge Wrap Up

As we come to the end of January, we can take a look at the 2024 scores, with a Youtube video coming soon going into detail about the round up too. A massive thank you to everyone that took part, and we really hope you sign up again for this year's competition. 

Coastal East England 10km: Congratulations to Sam Goddard at Gibraltar Point NNR for winning with 414 points, with Nige Lound coming second at the same site. James Brown came third at Hopton, with Dartford Warbler being the highlight.

Coastal East England: Jacob Spinks came first, with a massive total of 472 points of 234 species; with Spurn Observatory getting the top three spots! Although two of those competitors won't be competing there this year, with those Charlotte and Jacob's highlight of the autumn being finding a Red-flanked Bluetail. Mark Andrews had a brilliant July having Gull-billed Tern and Black-winged Pratincole from the garden, while Trevor Girling at a close fourth at Titchwell RSPB found both Hume's Warbler and Long-billed Dowitcher. 

 

Coastal Ireland and Ireland 10K: Only two competitors from Ireland this year but RSPB WoW, Victoria Park and Kinnegar placing first with 120 species. 

Coastal Scotland 10km: Well done to Rob Hughes placing 1st in Nybster, Caithness with 156 species including American Wigeon; Calum Scott in Aberlady placing 2nd with 141 species including White-rumped Sandpiper, Osprey and Baird's Sandpiper and Julian Smith placing 3rd with 140 species.

Coastal Scotland: In first place we have Andrew Whewell with his patch at North Berwick East, just pipping the top spot with 189 points. Andrew Whitehouse at Girdle Ness and Torry came a very close second, finishing on 188 points getting Surf Scoter and Little Egret in the latter part of the autumn, while in third place we have Rob Hughes, Nybster Caithness. Well done to you all! Some fantastic species highlights in this mini-league, including Surf Scoter, Great Shearwater, White-rumped and Baird's Sandpiper and Ring-necked Duck.

Coastal South England 10km: Congratulations to Amy Robjohns in 1st place with 183 species in Fareham/Gosport+ area, some excellent highlights including Long-tailed Duck and White-winged Tern. Bob Ford placed 2nd with 209 points and Spotted Crake and Honey Buzzard at his patch in Weymouth.

Coastal South England: Ryan Irvine takes 1st place with 250 points in St Buryan. Only 10 points behind with a 119% comparative score we have Kevin Rylands at Dawlish Warren and then Amy Robjohns in 3rd with  at Titchfield Haven & Hill Head. Some great species including Green-winged Teal, Dusky Warbler, Goshawk and Purple Heron.

Coastal Wales and Coastal Wales 10km: Only 3 Welsh patches with Alex Jones taking 1st place for both 3km and 10km in River Clwyd, Rhyl and Broughton. Some patch megas from Peter Howlett in the form of Velvet Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser and Shag.

Coastal West England: Some excellent highlights from Paul Bate in Highbridge & Burnham-on-sea, taking him into 1st place with 155 species including Purple Heron, Ring Ouzel, Snow Bunting, Yellow-browed Warbler and Hawfinch. Lots of space for competition in Coastal West with only 3 competitors.

Estuarine and Estuarine 10km: The winner of this category, Peter Hazelwood came out top at Oldbury Power Station with 157 species, including a self-found Richard's Pipit while Toby Collett at Frampton Marsh came second.

Inland North: Congratulations to Duncan Bye at Wheldrake Ings with 205 points for coming first, topping their previous score at 105.6%. Ben Moyes, at Swillington Ings, came second while another competitor for Wheldrake Ings Adam Firth, came third with highlights of White Stork and Whinchat. Ciaran Rowett had plenty of great highlights including Curlew Sandpiper, Black-necked Grebe, Pectoral Sandpiper, Ruddy Shelduck and Snow Goose.

Inland North 10km: Adam Firth in Evlington comes in top of the table with 205 points, Ben Moyes at Swillington Ings takes 2nd place with and Tom Shields in Nottingham Trent Valley places 3rd. Patch highlights for Inland North including Grasshopper Warbler, Marsh Harrier, Tree Pipit and Mandarin Duck.

Inland Scotland 10km and Inland Scotland: Mike Hodgkin had a very good year comparatively at Penicuik with 26% up. A handful of Inland Scotland patches, with Alex Ash in Kilmalcom getting plenty of patch gold birds with Redshank, Shoveler and Grey Plover all being patch firsts. Lee Hesp coming second at Strathyre getting December Whooper Swans.

Inland South 10km: Joe Parham came first, having a brilliant year comparatively with a whopping 44% higher. Dave Helliar came second, also above comparative, with highlights including Yellow-browed Warbler. Andy Sims in Boultham Mere/Swanpool area came close third with an excellent comparative score of 15%. Steve Lister in fourth had a patch and county tick Ring-necked Parakeet. 

Inland South: Ryan Irvine at inland St Buryan came first, with a total of 208 points. Comparatively down over 7%. Pete Sofley at Ladywalk Nature Reserve in Warwickshire came second, with plenty of good autumn highlights including a patch gold Tundra Bean Goose being the first site record. Geoff Wyatt at Day's Lock came third, scoring comparatively the same as previous! In the meantime patch ticking Knot. Matthew Dick and Steve Atkinson scored the same points with 159. Matthew at Lakenheath having a thousand Whooper Swans roosting on patch being a record count, while Steve at Middle Tame having plenty of goodies with Red-necked Phalarope, Little Stint, Pectoral Sandpiper and Black-necked Grebe.

While lower in the lower in the league there was still some great records to be had. Neil Burt having plenty of highlights for the autumn on his Kent patch while Tom Bedford had four Whooper Swans in Lye Valley, this being a second patch record for a site with no water! While Rob Pople getting a patch tick in the form of a Raven. 

Inland Wales 10km:

Islands 10km: A very interesting mini-league with a very tight, pretty much photo finish! Between Bruce Taylor on Barra and John Bowler on Tiree, both having some great highlights. Bruce, pipping the top spot with 297 points, having three Ring-necked Ducks, two American Golden Plover, two White-rumped Sandpiper, thousands of Great Shearwaters, and Barra's first Cattle Egret! While John on 296 points had Cory's Shearwater, two American Golden Plovers and a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Steve Dudley from Westray came third, following the trend with more Great Shearwaters, with them being the second island record onward. A Smew there was the first island record since 2013.

Islands: David Parnaby on Fair Isle came out top on this mini-league with 346 points, which included some obvious Fair Isle quality in the form of finding Marmora's Warbler, and also seeing Tennessee Warbler. John Blower on Tiree, who came second, had a patch gold bird in the form of Carrion Crow. Other highlights included Barred Warbler, Great Shearwaters, Leach's Petrel and Grey Phalarope. Bruce came third in this league, with the first Cattle Egret for Barra getting on his 3km patch as well as thousands of Great Shearwater. 

Netherlands 10km and Netherlands:

Overall Scores:

Overall Top 10, 10km:

Green Top 10: 

Overall Top 10:

Comparative Top 10:

Again, thank you for taking part and congratulations to all the mini-league winners.

If you haven't already signed up for 2025, follow this link:

PWC2025 Sign Up Here

We really hope you to decide to take part in #PWC2025 and enjoy reaping the benefits of birding your patch. Good luck!

Patchwork Challenge 2025!

This year's Patchwork Challenge is up and running! We will be running monthly updates on here, and an overview of last years competition will be coming soon too. If you haven't signed up already, then you can do so by following this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rQvYe7lP2G-zrVqyb43jN0tTmGQ28Ouf4OZMX0XGAF0/edit?usp=sharing - if you have any issues with getting set up or have any questions or even anything we can improve on, then don't hesitate to get in touch via email. 

There are so many benefits to patch birding. There is a great feeling of reward at watching your local patch, this by either noticing the first summer migrants of the year, getting good counts or by finding something locally good. There is no better feeling than finding something good on your patch, after hours of hard work and when that is finally paid off there is an immense feeling of excitement and joy.  Also, why not make your birding on patch this year count towards local bird records, by using either Birdtrack or eBird, or submitting them directly to your local county recorder. Every record counts to them!

Best of luck, we hope that 2025 is a busy birding year for everyone! Watch this space for more updates soon! 

Patchwork Challenge team

Green-winged Teal (taken by Thomas Willoughby)

Patchwork Challenge 2023

 Hello? We've been away for a bit but now we are back. Might be back. Do you want us back? #PWC2023

The complete dummies guide to the new website

We unveiled the new website just under a month ago and since then there has been a few additions to the website so here is a complete guide to what to do so far:

You can find the website here: http://patchworkchallenge.com/index.php

Homepage

 Above is the homepage where you can find the mini leagues, latest sightings etc.

Registering

To register go to 'Account' on the tool bar and click on Register on the drop down menu. This will take you to the page below.

Registration page

Enter your details and tick the I'm not a robot box (even if you are a robot :-)). You will then be taken back to the homepage. Go back to 'Account' on the toolbar and click on Login on the drop down. It will take you to this page below

Login

Enter your user name and password and you will arrive at your very own homepage where you can add your patch then your sightings.

Users homepage

Click on User settings to register your patch

You will come to this page below:

 Then Click on Add New Patch to get to this page below:

Entering your patch

 Add your patch name, select your mini league from the drop down, enter your scores from previous years (leave it blank for any year you didn't enter PWC). Then zoom in to your patch on the map and draw your boundaries, it will calculate your patch size as well. Click submit once finished.

Add common birds from the list by ticking box

You are now ready to add sightings, for all 1 and 2 point birds you can bulk select from the list by ticking the box. You can enter a species more than once, its score will only be added once so duplication isn't a problem. Please select the date by click on it until there is a green circle round the number.

For bonus point species click on Log rarer species. You will arrive at this page below:

Add rare species

Choose species form drop down, click on date as before, tick Found if you found it and that will log the sighting. You can also add a photo by clicking on chose file, it will be added to your gallery and in the future the PWC gallery on the main homepage. Finally, you can map the exact location of the bird by clicking on the map, the blue crane marking the spot.

Once you have entered your sightings you can go back to the main Homepage and find your position on the Main National league and your mini league.

Adding photos:

You can add photos of common species by going to your sightings history page.

Click on a species name of the relevant sighting and a pop up will appear (see below)

You can then add a photo and map the sighting on your patch map. All photos will then appear on the gallery on your page and on the homepage.

Photo gallery on homepage

There will be additions happening over the coming weeks so will keep you posted.

Good luck, and if you have any problems let us know